Monday, February 25, 2013

A "Whopping (Cough)" Myth?

Currently (2013), the state of Wisconsin has the highest incidence rate of Pertussis ("Whopping cough"),
higher than Vermont and Washington, both whom have declared Pertussis to be at
epidemic levels. Both my daughter and I have been vaccinated for it in
the past. There has been considerable unfounded criticism surrounding the
vaccination since the 1970's. As it turns out, it was not based on
anything reliable. The vaccine manufacturers did not come up with the
right answers for the fear mongers, and the vaccination was publicly attacked
and discredited.The vaccine was further
altered in the early 80’s to an acellular structure and is wholly unable to
cause illness.Nonetheless, we are
presently experiencing a Pertussis epidemic in the state of Wisconsin. Having a few vaccinaphobic friends, I guess I understand how these myths keep on living on. Back in the early days of vaccines, they were using inactivated antigens (the polio vaccine, for example) which they did not realize at the time could gain the right stuff from our bodies and reactivate themselves. Science has changed a lot since the 1950's. But people's habit of chosing to "believe what they want to believe" has not.

(The following is an article from Wikipedia)

Society and culture

"Much of the controversy surrounding the DPT vaccine
in the 1970s and 1980s related to the question of whether the
whole-cell pertussis component caused permanent brain injury in rare
cases, called pertussis vaccine encephalopathy. Despite this
possibility, doctors recommended the vaccine due to the overwhelming
public health benefit, because the claimed rate was very low (one case
per 310,000 immunizations, or about 50 cases out of the 15 million
immunizations each year in the United States), and the risk of death
from the disease was high (pertussis killed thousands of Americans each
year before the vaccine was introduced).[30]No studies showed a causal connection, and later studies showed no
connection of any type between administration of the DPT vaccine and
permanent brain injury. The alleged vaccine-induced brain damage proved
to be an unrelated condition, infantile epilepsy.[31]
Eventually evidence against the hypothesized existence of pertussis
vaccine encephalopathy mounted to the point that in 1990, the Journal of American Medical Association called it a "myth" and "nonsense".[32]However, before that point, criticism of the studies showing no connection and a few well-publicized anecdotal reports of permanent disability that were blamed on the DPT vaccine gave rise to anti-DPT movements in the 1970s.[33]
The negative publicity and fear-mongering caused the immunization rate
to fall in several countries, including Great Britain, Sweden, and
Japan. In many cases, a dramatic increase in the incidence of pertussis
followed.[34]Unscientific claims about the vaccine pushed suppliers of the vaccines out of the market.[30]
In the United States, low profit margins and an increase in
vaccine-related lawsuits led many manufacturers to stop producing the
DPT vaccine by the early 1980s.[30]In 1982, the television documentary "DPT: Vaccine Roulette" depicted
the lives of children whose severe disabilities were inaccurately blamed
on the DPT vaccine by reporter Lea Thompson.[35]
The negative publicity generated by the documentary led to a tremendous
increase in the number of lawsuits filed against vaccine manufacturers.[36]
By 1985, manufacturers of vaccines had difficulty obtaining liability
insurance. The price of the DPT vaccine skyrocketed, leading to
shortages around the country. Only one manufacturer of the DPT vaccine
remained in the U.S. by the end of 1985. To avert a vaccine crisis,
Congress in 1986 passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), which established a federal no-fault system to compensate victims of injury caused by mandated vaccines.[37]
The majority of claims that have been filed through the NCVIA have been
related to injuries allegedly caused by the whole-cell DPT vaccine.The concerns about side effects led Yuji Sato to introduce an even
safer acellular version of the pertussis vaccine for Japan in 1981. The
acellular pertussis vaccine was approved in the United States in 1992
for use in the combination DTaP vaccine. Research has shown that the
acellular vaccine has a rate of adverse events similar to that of a Td
vaccine (a tetanus-diphtheria vaccine containing no pertussis vaccine).[38]"

Outbreaks

"In April and May 2012, pertussis was declared to be at epidemic
levels in the state of Washington, USA. In September 2012, a similar
epidemic of pertussis was seen in parts of the United Kingdom, with
several babies dying as a result. [39][40] In December 2012, the state of Vermont declared a pertussis epidemic.[41] The state of Wisconsin has the highest incidence rate, however it has not released an official epidemic declaration. [42]"

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The answer for me...

2 Corinthians, 11:3,"But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity of devotion to Christ."

I have found that the world, the flesh, and the devil, are always trying to get between God's Word and man's understanding of it. But it's a nuisance I am learning to manage. My answer has been to, "long for the pure milk of the word...,"1 Peter 2:2. It's the Truth that makes you free.

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